


Dedication

by Maple



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Gen, POV First Person, Quote Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-18
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maple/pseuds/Maple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time passes, and two girls grow up with the memory of The Sword Man, who has come back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dedication

**Author's Note:**

> Some violence (nothing that wouldn't be found in the tv show).
> 
> Written for a quote challenge, so the following quote (modified for the story) was used: "I told myself that if I got us out of this, I would buy myself an entire half-gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream." The Book of Fours by Nancy Holder.

No one ever goes into the old warehouse building out past the chain-link fence. It's been closed for years now and even the local drug dealers and prostitutes avoid the place as much as possible. The ghosts of the place are too earnest, too real. Just walking near the property will raise the hairs on your arms. So, today, on the day that the building is scheduled to be torn down I am standing against the fence and watching the activity, my best friend at my side.

We're both squinting against the sun and braving the whipping wind because years ago, when we were only children, something happened there. Something that either of us has ever shared with anyone else, something that just can not be shared and even now I wonder if my child's brain had created it all.

"We didn't imagine it, did we?" Alyssa asks, echoing my own thoughts. Best friends for thirty years, and it almost does seem as if we read each other's minds.

"No," I say.

"What do you think will…."

"Happen?" I finished her question. "I don't know. But if we're going to find out, we need to get closer."

Alyssa nods and we hop the fence. Taller now, we can go over instead of scrambling underneath through the dirt like we did when we were children.

We don't bother to hide ourselves. There are a large group of people milling about at the edges of things–it's more of a public ceremony than a secret destruction. The building is being taken down so that a public park can be created. The newspaper reports that a financial backer is donating a lot of money and that in the end it will be a place of green grass and fountains, flowers, and sculptures.

Someone important is speaking at the front of the group, all smiles and thumbs up as he explains how this small area will become a beacon to other distressed areas, pointing the way to neighborhood rejuvenation. I listen quietly and try not to frown. This man is wearing a silk shirt and has fine shoes on his feet. I've lived in this neighborhood my whole life, taking over the house when my parents passed. It hasn't changed much, and this park idea is wonderful, but it wasn't the government's doing, it wasn't their care or concern. It was some too-rich guy's project, and probably done to assuage his guilt over having more than his own fair share of things. Alyssa glanced at me and I could see in her face that we're thinking the exact same thoughts.

We're only here to watch the building come down, to pay tribute to something that happened long ago that colored our world and changed everything, and to say good-bye.

"And now I'd like to introduce someone who needs no introduction."

I stifled a yawn and wondered why all politicians sound alike. My gaze swung wide to the building behind the speeches. It looms large and grey, plain and corrugated, rusting on all sides now. Years ago only one side had rusted, providing small holes along the base for curious children to squeeze through. It has a hulking presence, a stubbornness of weight that makes me feel as if it will persist in existence even if they try to tear it down. It will never leave.

Beside me Alyssa gasps and grabs at my hand. My attention snaps back to the ceremony and there he is: tall, dark haired, with serious eyes. It is my childhood memory come back to life, not a hair changed. He's *younger* than we are now, and that doesn't match up in my memory as I remember him being a grown-up. It takes a moment to adjust to the difference, filtering him through child-sized estimations into adult-sized ones. He gestures to the building, talking, although I barely hear the words.

Alyssa is clutching at my hand with an abnormal strength and I think that the bones in my hand might soon pop out of place. "It's him," she whispers to me. "The Sword Man."

I nod and am suddenly thankful for the others surrounding us, a crowd to hide in. We're much changed from the children we were, but still… I hope he doesn't recognize us. I look across the field and the distance is stretched out, the safety of the other side of the chain link fence a million miles away.

The Sword Man finished his speech and looks across the crowd, alighting on us and I hope it is just my imagination that he paused a moment too long to stare at Alyssa and I.

The crowd moves along to another area for more speeches and to see what is hidden under a large brown tarp, leaving us standing alone. For a moment the Sword Man doesn't go with them, instead staying where he is, head cocked to the side like a bird contemplating something. Contemplating us? Then he smiles and nods his head in a general way before moving off the join the rest of the crowd further off.

Alyssa and I follow slowly, and I can hear her hitched breath. There is a lump in my throat so large I can barely even breathe. Suddenly, my memory transports me back to a windy night when Alyssa and I had gone exploring, feeling braver than brave because I'd just gotten a puppy.

Our great bloodhound, Scout. Or so we imagined. The poor puppy could barely walk lest it tumble about on its over-large ears. But we took it exploring. The great, scary building was perfect. We'd gone near, but had never been brave enough before to go inside. Scout had other ideas, though, and had gotten loose and gone through a hole in the wall.

We shimmied after him, into the musty smelly darkness of the building. Scout hadn't gone far. We found him licking the hand of a pretty woman lying on the ground, hidden in the shadows. She held up a finger to her mouth when she saw us, her large blue eyes also pleading with us to be quiet. I nodded and neither of us made a sound as we hunched down next to her.

Everything happened so fast after that, it all seems a blur. There were sharp, clanging sounds and I squinted down into the darkness, trying to make it out, clutching at Scout. Then two men, fighting with swords, came into view, whirring around each other. And… something horrible happened. The one man cut the other's head off. I couldn't even find the air to scream, I just squeezed Scout until he began yelping and whining.

Next to me, the woman started crying and I finally let go of Scout, who started licking her face.

Then the entire building starting burning and exploding. The surviving Sword Man was at the center of it all, being hit with lightning bolts. I looked over to Alyssa, who had her face hidden in her hands, and I reached out for her. She looked at me. I promise, I had told her by screaming in her ear, if we get out of this, we'd get an entire half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and eat  
the whole thing. She nodded and we huddled together through the rest of the explosions: her, Scout, the strange woman, and me.

When it was finally quiet, the man crawled over to us. Alyssa and I scooted back, and I suddenly realized that the woman hadn't moved for a few minutes. The Sword Man had crawled with his sword, and when he saw the lady, he let it go. Even in the dim light I could see it was stained with blood.

The Sword Man picked up the lady and began sobbing into her hair. Scout started howling in puppy-fashion, not a true howl, but a miserable sound all the same. Finally, the Sword Man seemed to realize we were there. He looked at us, and his eyes were as hard as the ground beneath our knees. "Go home," he commanded. Then he turned and carried the woman away into the dark.

With his last words to us echoing in my ears, I continued to creep toward the present-day crowd. Another long winded speech, and finally they pulled the brown tarp off the marker to reveal a beautifully erected sign of gray granite. The Mary Carter Memorial Park.

"Was that her name?" Alyssa whispered next to me.

I watched the Sword Man for a long moment, the way his eyes tightened when he looked at the sign. "Yeah, I think so."

Alyssa nodded. "Should we…."

"No," I said, suddenly decided. I didn't want to know anymore. I knew more than enough. I smiled at my best friend. "Let's go home. I've got some ice cream in the freezer."


End file.
